I Wish

Charlie was out hunting. It was deer season. He used it for an excuse to be off by himself. He had lost his wife. Well, she wasn’t exactly lost, but while he was working extra hours on a new project, she got bored and found another lover. So, she left with Mr. Right Now. He wasn’t all that broken up about it, though. She was getting restless, talking down to him, berating him for working so much and not paying enough attention to her. It wasn’t true, but, she made it sound so. He spent every working minute working hard to make a living, and every other minute with her, cooking for her, doing her laundry, rubbing her back, making sure she knew she was important to him. It was him that wasn’t that important to her, though. So, off she went. That was a month ago. Charlie hadn’t heard from her since. It wouldn’t be long, though, he figured. She’d run out of money, or luck or something. He’d turned all her cards and accounts off. Oh, well.

He was walking his hunting property, carefully looking, hoping to find some evidence of the big one. He’d seen pictures on his field cameras. A fourteen-point, mature buck with a thick massive rack to beat the band. It was time to let the younger bucks take over, so harvesting the big boy was on the agenda this weekend. Probably too tough for anything but jerky, sausage and marinated backstraps, but there’d be a lot of it.

He had still seen no sign of the buck when he came up on his hunting cabin. Smoke was rising from the chimney, so he had company. He never let anyone use the property, so they weren’t there with permission, but, he decided to be nice about it and approached the cabin. When he was about five yards from the porch, the door opened. Expecting the worst, but wishing for the best, he had his rifle at the ready, but still pointing down and away.

The worst is not what happened. A young blonde woman, maybe twenty years old, very pretty, dressed in jeans, flannel, and boots, all looking eerily familiar, came to the door. She stood there looking at him.

“Hi. What brings you out here?” Charlie asked. She didn’t answer. “Ummm ... Do you have a name?” Nothing. No response. “I wish you would talk to me.”

“My name is Belle and you are on private property.”

“Belle. That’s a pretty name. I know it’s private property, Belle. I’m the owner.”

“Oh. I thought that would work. Maybe with someone else, it might have, huh?”

“Yeah. Maybe. Are you OK? What are you doing out in the middle of nowhere in my cabin? We’re miles from anyone out here.”

“I’m just wanting to be by myself. Personal problems. Nothing I want to bore you with. I’ll get my things and leave.”

“Belle. No. You don’t need to rush off. Relax. I won’t cause you any problems. I’m not doing all that well, anyway. I wish I could find that big buck I’m looking for, but...” Belle pointed to a fence line about 60 yards away. There he was. He looked at Charlie, then at the woods, then at Charlie, then bolted into the trees. Damn, Charlie thought, ‘That is a handsome animal’. “I’ll go looking for him later,” he said.

“You’ll find him next time you look for him. Please do wait ‘til later, though. He’s so nice. I don’t want to know he’s gone.” Her words made a troubled thought pass through him. He went in and set the rifle down. Maybe next year.

“OK, Belle. Hey, you hungry? I thought about going back into town and getting a bite. If I’m not going to be packing a buck out of here, I might as well have a decent meal.” She smiled at him and nodded.